


Misnamed

by StarthornFromScratch



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: Angst, I Don't Even Know, I love me some angst, Other, Pokespe - Freeform, What Have I Done, angst my boi, but not a pure bean, first post???, gold angst fic, gold is a good bean, gold pokespe, gold pokespe angst, he be trippin, it do be like that sometimes, jhoto trio, my boi gold be trippin, no beta read we die like pryce, pokemon special gold, starthornfromscratch, very slow updatesss, yes tags are nice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25419679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarthornFromScratch/pseuds/StarthornFromScratch
Summary: Gold's internalized self hatred isn't really a secret, but when his mother tries to talk to him about it things often seem strained. As she is quickly giving up hope on healing without therapy he decides that putting on a happy face might be better in the short run.The long run, however, is a very different story.Friends and family may help, but who can truly say what the future will hold?
Comments: 14
Kudos: 30





	1. Intro/Warnings

**Author's Note:**

> Hi so I was looking at Incorrect Pokespe Quotes on Tumblr noticed the one post about Gold and his obvious self worth problems/anyway I was inspired.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have nothing here yet but I will add a summary as soon as I can.

_It is currently 2:54 AM and I am typing this from my mom's side of the computer because our side (me and my two sisters) has a lock._

So idk if anyone has seen my content on Fanfiction.net or Wattpad but I really like angst, and I hope to make that apparent in this fanfiction.

However, there will be really really really slow updates because I am currently working on my RoChu fic (don't worry, it isn't posted here) and I barely get time on any other computer than my school one. (My dad works in coding and because of the pandemic he has to work at home and we currently have one shared family computer. We all share it (there are five of us) and because of that I don't get much time to post.)

I would also like to add that there will probably be some non-con eventually, so look out for that if you want to avoid it. I am also hoping to make these chapters longer than my average chapter (2000 words) and try to keep in mind the cannon vs fanon veiws on Gold's personality. In the uncensored Heart Gold and Soul Silver manga he swears like a sailor and I respect that and hope to keep it consistent.

I don't know where this fic will go but I do like the idea of writing without a plan (my RoChu fic is _very_ planned out) so it will probably just be spam of random things. My updates will probably be separated by weeks or even months but when I _do_ update it will probably be a few chapters at one time. (I write all of my fanfics in Google docs because I can't go on fanfiction sites on my censored school chromebook and because of that write a few chapters at a time.)

TLDR: Gold will have dark olive/medium brown skin in this fic, I don't know why but I have always read the series and seen that. (It's not really relevant but I may reference it a few times.)

Non-con eventually.

Swearing (?) _n_ _ot sure if anyone cares about that but I did come here from Scratch* so whatever._

Yeah! I hope to write this as soon as I can!

_*Scratch is a children's coding website which I love to bits._


	2. I Was Mistaken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gold's internalized self hatred isn't really a secret, but when his mother tries to talk to him about it things often seem strained. As she is quickly giving up hope on healing without therapy he decides that putting on a happy face might me better in the short run.  
> The long run, however, is a very different story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it is currently 3:31 in the morning and I am struggling to post this chapter, but even with only one or two editing sweeps it seems to be going reasonably well!  
> (I have a funeral to go to tomorrow so I may not be able to do my classic after-posting-editing-run that I always seem to do on Wattpad XP. If there are any big mistakes and you care enough to comment please do and I will try my best to fix it!)

"Gold..?" There was a voice calling him from down the stairs again this morning, though she sounded more worried than anything else today. How much had he slept in? Or had he at all? There was a possibility that he had stayed awake that night thinking about his faults. There was also a possibility that it had been another one of those blank nights, the ones where he didn't really feel much to begin with.

"Y-yeah mom?" The Johto dex-holder's voice croaked, sounding painfully weak even to himself.

"I..." her voice stuttered, sounding far closer now. Following her sudden silence there were a few creaking noises from outside of his room, it seemed that she had made her way up the stairs and was now standing in the hallway behind the door.

Everyday recently they would have this exchange, or something similar and to the same effect. It was like clockwork in their lives, defining their mornings to the strict policies of fear and doubt. She would wake up early, maybe cook a big breakfast in the hopes that her son would wake up and come downstairs, that they would wake up from their nightmare and things would be normal again. Still, everyday almost without fail this hope would not come true and she would travel up the stairs to stand outside of her son's room, trying to bait him to come to her and function.

Swallowing her discomfort Gold's mother closed her eyes, gently leaning against the wooden door frame, "Is there anything I can do for you..?"

Her voice was quite but Gold heard her through the silence in the rest of their house. The 'house Pokémon' as he so-dubbed them we downstairs in the kitchen and living room, watching recordings of old TV broadcasts and waiting for the rest of their family to come downstairs. Gold's team were mostly still sleeping throughout his room, all of their moods had been affected by Gold's recent personality switch and none of them were enjoying it. While they had originally woken him up in the morning times were different now and many of them slept in.

Shaking his head to himself, Gold responded quietly, "Not... not really mom."

At this there was a quite sigh from his mother, though she sounded much sadder then exasperated. That made Gold feel worse, though he wouldn't tell her that in case she felt even more pained by the truth. Of course in some ways she helped, but he couldn't make himself admit it. She cooked him food and made sure he was safe from the outside, keeping out his friend's questions about how he felt. This he appreciated, knowing that she trusted him enough to not tell the other dex-holders. He didn't know how they would react, especially since he had been going through a pretty bad spell recently.

Knowledge about each other's states of mind wasn't regularly shared between him and his friends. For the most part they had faith in their own and other's ability's to get help when they needed it. This had been proved wrong time and time again all throughout the regions but no one had truly responded to it. To make matters worse he hadn't seen the others in quite some time, even Silver and Crystal who were suppose to be the closest to him.

No.

It had just been him and his family recently.

In some ways that was safer, he didn't have to worry about gossip spreading the same way he would have had to with people his own age. Even though he hated the way he looked, the way he acted, the way people seemed to see him, his mom was a very kind person who at least knew what he was going through. When she was younger there had been similar depressive states that her mind sent her into, it wasn't exactly a new topic.

Snapping him out of his thoughts she suddenly spoke, "Gold can I come in? Or if you rather you can come out..." If he had been around other people and had to care about what they thought, or even if he personality was represented in the way he normally projected it he would have cracked a joke about being pan and she knew this. When he instead only responded with a short, 'you can come in if you want...' she felt her heart hurt slightly.

It was good that he was open to seeing her but it would have been comforting to hear his laugh, his joking tone in serious situations. Though many people didn't recognize this she knew it was one of the thing people liked most about him, how he was able to diffuse a situation and calm everyone down with a few jokes and a couple of swear words. Some said he wasn't being serious enough for a dex-holder but she knew his friends appreciated it.

She appreciated it as well, she loved that part of his personality.

Opening the door slowly so as to not hit him with it she smiled sadly, "You know, I could have sworn that was an opportunity to make a self-deprecating joke, didn't we both used to say those a lot..?"

Gold nodded, this of course was true and something he was regularly proud of. But he just wasn't in the mood today. And he hadn't been the day before, and the day before that, and they day before that, and...

Snapping her fingers, Gold's mom bent over, pulling his chin up with her thumb as gently as she could until they were at eyelevel, "Hey," as their eyes met she softened her expression even more if that was possible, trying to make it clear that she didn't care about what he though about himself.

They stayed there in silent, unswaying eye contact for a brief, sweet moment.

"I love you," she whispered, smiling sadly into his eyes, "I really hope you know that..."

He forced an equally sad smile in return, slowly removing her thumb from his chin and nodding once, "I know mom, and I love you too."

From his angle she almost looked like she was about to tear up for a moment, just happy to know that her son appreciated her efforts in some small way, but the emotion was quickly gone as her expression turned sad again, "Thank you," she whispered, "that's exactly what I needed to hear..." Gold nodded and took a shaky breath, his eyes straying to to corner of the room, not really looking at anything but finding it too painful to meet her gaze any longer.

Taking the chance in the lull of their conversation his mother plopped down on the carpet next to him. Forcing a smile that _almost_ looked genuine she pated the carpet that now sat below her, "Wow!" Gold stole a glance in her direction, watching her eyes as she looked at the fabric, "This stuff in pretty comfortable, I should sit on the floor more often!"

Gold let out a puff of air from his nose, smiling ever so slightly, which seemed to be exactly what she wanted. Turning towards him with a nearly not forced grin she patted one of his shoulders twice before droping her hand again, "What other smart places have I seen you sit?" Gold shrugged, not really invested or interested in the conversation much, but trying to entertain his mother's desires for his enjoyment.

"Hm," she was muttering, "The couch?" Their awkward eye contact and a beat of silence after this comment was enough to tell her the joke wasn't very funny.

"Mom," Gold started, shaking his head in disbelief, "was that supposed to be a joke?"

"Yeah yeah I know," she pouted, "it wasn't very funny." 

"Tell me about it..." Gold mumbled only to be cut off with her laughter.

"What?" She exclaimed, " ' _Tell me about it_ '? What kind of-"

He cut her off as quickly as she had done to him, a small smile escaping his filter, "Ah ah! You made the joke in the first place, AND you admitted it wasn't funny!"

Another beat passed, her contemplating what to say and if there was a possible comeback as Gold wondered by he even bothered. "Yeah that's fair..." she eventually muttered, sounding almost happy to be defeated in their little joke of an argument.

Gold sighed, "Of course it is," looking into her face he tried to judge what she was thinking but couldn't determine enough, "Are you actually invested in the conversation or are you just humoring me?"

As if caught of guard by his statement she frowned, "Ah, well.."

They sat in silence for another moment or so, Gold tracing around his feet into the thin carpet, his mom taping her fingers on her knees, not sure what to say. Finally, however, she simply sighed, "I could be asking you the same question, no?" Hearing this response Gold also sighed, droping his hand and forgetting the tracing he had started.

"Maybe." he said, his voice ever so smaller than before, in response his mother nodded sadly. 

"That's... what I expected." her voice was heavy, as if the urge to give up right then and there was especially tempting, "I would love to talk to you just for talking's sake though..." Again Gold snuck a glance at her, only the find that she had wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her cheek on her knees, facing his direction though her eyes were closed. This... didn't feel right, he didn't want her to be sad, that wasn't the goal in letting her talk to him. What he had originally hoped of was a realistic conversation about how she felt on the topic of his state of mind. Though it had been immensely reliving not to receive that in some ways he felt like it would have had a better outcome then her being sad.

So without thinking and without taking a second step back to examine the situation Gold suddenly stood, "I also want to be able to just talk to you...!" He blurted out, quickly forcing a sad-ish but open smile only his face before she looked up. Almost immediately her eyes snapped open a wide grin already spreading across her confused face.

"R-really?" She stuttered, fumbling over her words, "You don't just want to... hide in the house?"

Internally grimacing at the utter truth in that statement Gold shook his head, still forcing the semi-happy expression, "I want to do that as well, but maybe you're right..."

"I'm... right?" She asked, clearly confused by this as well, "Right about what?"

"Oh you know," he laughed awkwardly, feeling jittery about the idea of even getting out of his room, and not in a good way. "About trying to talk to people? Open up...?" His mom nodded, slowly at first, but eventually she seemed to understand what he was saying.

"I'm totally on board with that idea," she smiled, looking truly happy for the first time in quite a while, "I could take you out to see your friends soon, does that sound alright?"

Though he was screaming at himself to tell her that, no, it did not sound alright. Gold just widened his false smile, anything to make he feel better about how she had raised him. His mental issues were of course and so clearly not her fault and he still saw how she blamed herself. Even if he personally was adamantly against the idea of going out and seeing people he knew it would make her feel better about his situation, "That sounds great mom!" he half choked, "does tomorrow sound like a good plan?"

At this point she stood as well, clearly invested in the idea already, "That sounds like a wonderful plan!"

Taking a shaky breath and putting on a brave face, Gold nodded, "With Crystal and Silver, correct?"

"Sure!" She nodded enthusiastically, "I'm sure they are wondering where you went~"

 _'That's the problem!'_ he internally screamed, he didn't want to face his friends after such a long time of being missing, they would probably have questions, or at least Crystal would. Silver most likely wouldn't care that he was back, and probably wouldn't have even noticed he was missing... Bitterly he swallowed, feeling sick at the idea, but he hid this with another happy front quickly, "Y-yeah! They probably are...!' Scratching the back of his neck and laughing awkwardly he hoped his mom hadn't noticed the pause. Luckily, it seemed he had hidden it well enough as she did a little happy jump.

"This is a wonderful idea," she grabbed his arm pulling him to the door with a big grin on her face, "come downstairs! I made breakfast~!"

"Yeah...!" He exclaimed, trying his hardest to sound enthusiastic, "Don't you... usually?" She laughed at his portrayed confusion, nodding her head quickly in response to the question.

"Of course I do! But you haven't been eating it lately, I don't think the Pokémon mind much though!" as she grinned at him, sweetly, and looking very happy with his sudden choice to be social, not even finding anything strange about _how_ sudden it was in her frantic race to grasp on to normality again.

Gold's smile must have looked kind of gritty by how painful it was to force but again his mother did not notice, "yeah..." he muttered, "I bet Togebo loves eating too much bacon...!"

She laughed nodding again as she pulled him down the stairs to the living room, "Yes, he enjoys it very much!" Making an obviously fake frown she pouted, "I thought you raised him better than that!"

"Heh," Gold tried to laugh, gritting his teeth into a realistic expression, "I thought so too!"

Again laughing his mom bustled into the kitchen, leaning over a few dirty plates in the sink to pick up a frying pan that sat on the counter nearby. Apparently careful not to burn herself she carried it over to the table, motioning Gold to sit down with a tilt of her head. This he obeyed, sneaking a peek into the frying pan to see... bacon.

A whole hell of a lot of bacon.

He did love the food and all, would even eat an entire frying pan by himself if he got the chance, but cooking that much when she wasn't even sure if he would come down to breakfast... It was a bit ridiculous to say the least. Maybe Togebo had been eating too much...? What else had he missed when he wasn't trying to fake his emotions? Swiveling around in his seat and turning to face the Pokémon who sat in the connected living room he made eye contact with the white Togekiss, _'What the heck?'_ he mouthed in the direction of his friend, who just made a face at him and turned back to the television instead of answering.

Seeing their exchange Gold's mom burst out laughing again, "He hasn't been the only one eating the bacon Gold, we've shared with everyone else!"

"Thank Acreus," Gold muttered, almost embarrassed to be caught looking legitimately worried, especially because it was the one emotion he hadn't faked in their conversation so far.

The rest of their breakfast blended together. He didn't really care enough to stay focused on the conversation, so he didn't really keep it up. Even so his mother was content humming to herself across the table, kicking her legs and looking happier than she had in months. Maybe... maybe faking how he felt was worth it to see her enjoying herself.

Maybe.

But most likely not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I managed to update! Don't get your hopes up though, I'm not really certain when I can update next...  
> (Yeah it's only, like 2400 words or something I know, sorry for the short-ish chapter!!!)


	3. The Short Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even with the stress of his own self worth issues weighing heavily on him, Gold tries his darn hardest to seem okay for the people he cares about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got back from the funeral all right (it was across state), and am very happy to bring you this next chapter! Also swearing.  
> (I managed to crack my thumb nail open though so typing is a bit painful, but I just couldn't resist..!!)
> 
> *Its 1:29 in the morning if you were wondering but I'm taking a break in the middle in order to sleep because I'm actually tired for once.  
> *edited the second day I was working on this chapter: It's now 1:49 in the morning because I don't know how to take care of my needs and stayed up reading a Hermitcraft fic. Oh well.

Today was the day.

Yesterday he had told his mother that his would meet up with Silver and Crystal. It had (of course) been an impulsive decision that he would have never blurted out so randomly under normal circumstances. Even if the safety of his own home he wasn't free of his own need to impress others. In this context it wasn't really the need for attention or the wish to seem better than your day-to-day New Bark Town citizen, instead it was his constant need to protect the people he knew from the pain he felt.

Granted, they all had their problems and he was _not_ denying that.

Pretty much all of his friends had persevered through countless battles and immeasurable struggles and because of that most of them had at least mild mental issues with certain subjects. Just as Green had been scared of birds, though she had moved past this a long time ago, Gold was scared of failure. But not in they way Crystal had been, the way that disappointed her mother so badly once it was revealed. Instead he was more worried about how he would live knowing that he wasn't given as much credit as the other dex-holders simply because he fooled around. Even if he wasn't entirely sure why he felt the need to make jokes and keep the situation casual he knew that it meant something about his personality.

As he slowly pulled on his black socks he bit his lip, bouncing a bit on his heel out of sheer nervousness. He was crouched on the tiled floor of the entryway, one leg bent and placed on the ground in front of him while the other sat below him, supporting the rest of his weight. After pulling the fabric up the a comfortable height he nodded feverishly, trying to comfort himself and rid his mind of the anxiety, barely registering his mother's voice calling from the living room in the process.

But once he was sure he had heard her, though still unaware of what she had said, he sat up straighter, not sure if he should call back or not. Perhaps she would just repeat herself when she heard he didn't answer..? Since the day before (which was not a very long time but it was certainly a change compared to their average day) she had been very happy, even making him his favorite food for dinner that night. If anything could be a better meal to fall asleep after enjoying than a Cinnabar style burger he certainly hadn't tried it yet.

Just thinking about the night before, a small smile played across his lips, entertained by the idea of socialization momentarily.

But quickly the smile fell from his face, replaced by an equally emotion devoid blankness. He had no idea what he was doing. Being a social butterfly for most of his life, the actual fear he felt when thinking about talking to his friends was very off-putting. He had not been aware of how far from the rest of the world he had distanced himself.

"Whatever..." He whispered to himself, wiping his sweaty palms off on his black shorts, coincidentally tracing the yellow strips that ran up the sides.

Pulling himself off of the floor Gold straightened his legs, twisting his abdomen from side to side. Hearing a satisfying 'pop' he hummed to himself, distantly happy with the brief stretch.

Suddenly he heard his mother's voice again, sing-songy in a pleasant way, "Gold?" she called, "did you hear me?"

"Mh," he muttered, his eyes rolling shut in partial annoyance before raising his voice and forcing a light-hearted tone into his voice, "Nah, I didn't, did you call me?"

She laughed, equal parts pleasantly and loudly, "Of course I did! Get your butt in here!"

It was a joking tone but Gold frowned slightly anyway, preparing himself for a long day of forced question and answer with Crystal. Again, Silver would probably not have any major reaction to his disappearance or his sudden reappearance. Crystal was a different story. Even if she meant well (which at times Gold doubted due to her persistence) it kind of wore him out emotionally to be so upbeat around her, just hiding what he truly felt like beneath the surface.

Still he put on a brave face and turned, walking into the other room with a convincing bounce in his step, or at least he hoped it was convincing. One could never really be too sure.

"Alrighty!" he exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips and pasting a shit-eating grin on his face. His mother smiled at him, her eyes like little fiery balls of light, re-lit like her assumption of his will to live. "Let's get this show on the road~!"

Laughing at his word choice his mother closed her eyes briefly, seemingly amused by his new found happiness. But of course she didn't seem to find anything wrong with the suddenness of it all, she had been hoping he would get better for a long time coming. At that thought Gold felt a twinge in his stomach, not sure weather to place the blame on guilt of anger. He felt bad about making her life suck, that was for certain. But at the same time there was something else to it, he felt angry that she could ignore the obvious signs that he was faking it without a moment to think. Why could she have that freedom while he could not?

But Gold stopped himself, horrified by his thoughts. He knew his mother was trying her hardest and he also knew that it was not fair to be jealous over her joy.

Suddenly his mother spoke up, yet again cutting him off from his train of thoughts, "Gold?" She was smiling, but it faltered when she saw his face, "Are you... alright?"

Replacing the fearful stare with another mask of a forced smile, Gold ground his teeth together, knowing full well that the expression didn't reach his eyes. "Y-yeah!" he stuttered, "I'm doing great, just wondering what Crys' gonna say when she sees me..."

That was at least a half truth, better than a lie.

His mother nodded slowly, tentative all of a sudden, "You're sure...?"

"Completely." He grinned.

Another expression that didn't reach his eyes.

His mother's gaze drifted across his face, as if trying to pinpoint a falsity. Noticing this, Gold turned his expression to one of worry, this disguising the fear much better than a positive one.

"Why do you look so worried?" He asked, grafting another sad smile from his features, "I'm doing great!"

That was straight up a lie.

Nodding again just a slowly as before Gold's mother sighed, her gaze calculating but warm nonetheless. Inside his ribcage the dex-holder felt his heart melt. She cared about him so so so much and it sometimes felt as if he didn't thank her for it. As suddenly as this thought came he surged forward, catching her in a hug before swiftly pulling away again, only giving her enough time to respond with a high-pitched _"o-oh!"_ before he stepped back.

"Well then," he grinned sheepishly, "I should be going to see them now, bye mom...!"

"O-of course!" she stuttered, still caught of guard by his sudden hug, "make sure to tell them I said hi!"

He nodded vigorously, trying to throw her as far off his trail as possible. His plan to make her life less stressful would most defiantly go to shit if she caught on to the reality of the situation. He could not have her finding out the truth any time soon and had to be very careful with his choice of expressions and words. Any wrong move and she could figure it out.

Bowing, he made a show of leaving, smiling internally as she giggled due to his exaggerated movements. He stepped backwards towards to door, narrowly avoiding tripping on the knee level shelf that housed their shoes and blowing a kiss to her. Finally turning his back and faced the door he reached for the door knob, so close a chance of freedom from his stressful act that was nearly out of range-

"Wait!" his mother called, her giggling replaced by a semi-serious tone, "one more thing..."

He froze, fear rising like cold water in his veins. Had she noticed something strange about his behavior? Was his cover about to be blown? Did she think he was trying to smuggle something out of the house again? Did his joking manner give away his true emotions? Did-

But when she spoke it was soft and contented, completely the opposite of what he had expected her to sound like. "I love you sweetheart."

Gold felt a wave of relief wash over him, happily claiming back the years of his life that he felt he had lost in the momentary scare. "I love you too mom," he said, turning to face her again with a smile that was completely real on his tired face. That was the truth. He really did love her, and that was certainly the reason that he felt so inclined to protect her from the reality and truth of just how deep his anxieties went. She smiled in response and he felt butterflies- the good type -fluttering around in his chest, somewhere near the bottom of his ribcage, behind his diaphragm. He didn't feel helpless anymore, just knowing that he was able to speak the truth for once in what seemed like months, though it had only been a day.

Purely happy for once, he left the house, those same butterflies fliting around near his lungs, keeping his heart beating in a way.

He was supposed to meet up with the two other Johto dex-holders at the café in the center of town. (He truly didn't know why his mother had decided to send them all to a restaurant so soon after breakfast but it wasn't that big of a problem.) He raised his arms above his head, linking them together at the elbows behind his head. Another satisfying crack was heard and he smiled, yawning happily.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, he hardly minded the fresh air and soft breeze.

Calling Pibu and Togebo out of their pokéballs he distantly regretted his decision not to bring his skateboard or at least a scooter from the garage. Both Pokémon popped out of the confined spaces, Togebo falling only slightly before seemingly regaining his 'footing' in the air and floating again. Pibu dropped to the ground, landing on his feet before swiftly scampering up Gold's leg, perching on his shoulder with a satisfied squeak.

"Whoa!" Gold laughed, momentarily imbalanced by the sudden weight on his right side, "be careful there Pibu-!"

The prideful Pokémon let out a almost purring noise before hoping over the his left shoulder, a smug exclamation of his species name escaping his small mouth.

Gold laughed again, feeling free of his painful thoughts near the two Pokémon he felt closest to; the ones he himself had hatched. The three giggled for a bit, Togebo making joking yet undoubtedly snide remarks as he flew along side the pair, jabbing Gold in the side with his wing in a teasing motion. "Hey!" the human exclaimed, still laughing as he grabbed at his side, trying to protect his sensitive rib cage, "watch it buddy!"

As if teasing him Togebo stuck out his small tongue, letting it stand out in it's bright purple glory. On his shoulder Pibu snickered, Gold managing only another small protest before they reached the main road. There they walked, or flew in a certain Togekiss' case, in silence for a moment. The peace spreading between the three as Gold took in the sights and sounds of the town.

On his right there was a woman selling vegetables making pleasant conversation with a girl that couldn't have been much older than ten. The pair were laughing as they exchanged the goods, telling a joke that Gold would most likely never hear. On his left there was a couple eating sandwiches as they sat on the sidewalk, a playful gleam in both of their eyes. Beyond that and inside a store a barber was cutting his customer's hair, both seemed to be gossiping about some town news the dex-holder and his team had defiantly missed while they were away.

A small smile played on his face, town life seemed to be going as it normally did. It really wasn't too bad out here, perhaps coming out to town square more often would be good for him? The thought sounded like it could be entertained.

That is, it sounded like it could be entertained right up until the woman behind the vegetable stand noticed him, a even wider smile stretching across her own face. "Look!" she exclaimed to the girl who stood before her, "it's the boy from the Poké House!"

Even though she sounded genuinely happy Gold felt himself falter. He wasn't ready to be recognized yet, he hadn't had time to collect his feelings in peace!

Seeming to notice his friend's change in attitude Togebo also paused, a bitter expression spreading over his once calm face. Pibu also tensed, though his expression only mildly changed, looking more worried then before. In response to their change in posture Gold patted Pibu on the head, holding out his other hand to quell the white fairy type beside him, "Shh..." he whispered, stroking the Pichu as he burrowed closer to his neck, "they are... just nervous," he finished.

Personally he also felt nervous and his Pokémon clearly did as well, everyone had been affected by his mood change. His eyes scanned the street, noticing that many people were now looking at him, almost all of them with a smile of some sort on their face. He awkwardly smiled back, raising a hand in a brief greeting. One of the people in the couple who sat nearby waved at him, her pale face reflecting a similar smile to that of his mother's. His smile became even more awkward as he glanced around, not sure what to do in the unexpected situation.

Finally unable to take the stares anymore he ducked into a nearby shop closely followed by his Togekiss, not bothering to read the sign that sat outside of it. He quickly shut the door behind in, instinctively holding it shut as if one of his well meaning neighbors were about to attack him. When he determined he was safe he let out a deep sigh, trying to calm the fear that had been building inside of him. No, he was definitely not ready to face normal town life again.

He pulled a few more deep breaths out of his lungs before he was able to open his eyes and peel his back off of the door where he had been leaning.

A soft rumbling noise came from his left and he turn his head, facing the Pokémon who was still floating next to him, looking more worried then ever. He swallowed, "sorry..." His voice was soft, truly apologizing for getting both of their hopes up about how well he was feeling.

On his other side Pibu gently hoped down onto the floor, surprised by the loss of weight Gold turned his head to face him, watching the yellow baby Pokémon race up a stack of books, perching at the top of the shelf. He looked as though he was sniffing around, though for what he did not know. The mouse-like animal nodded before letting out a short and satisfied cry, finding nothing dangerous further on. "Pi-ka!" he called, beckoning Gold to walk further into the store, assuring him that it was safe before scampering down the shelf and away into the depths of the building.

Togebo nodded curtly, poking Gold in the side with his wing before following Pibu further into the shop.

"Ow!" Gold complained, not even fully serious in his remark. He was distracted and felt mildly annoyed. Why had he, a person who had once loved being the center of attention, not been able to deal with a couple of stares from people he knew? What had changed so drastically?

Whatever it was it had completely killed his good mood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I managed to post another barely edited chapter... (◡‿◡✿)  
> (Also 2721 words, so another short-ish chapter.)


	4. To Count Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gold meets up with Silver and Crystal to have a little chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started writing this chapter right after the last one, so there will probably be a couple more typos than usual due to my tiredness. (It's 4:41 AM lol)  
> Although I complain I do love writing this story, don't worry. :')
> 
> He finally meets up with his friends in this chapter! Isn't that nice?  
> Also this is nearly 4000 words (somewhere between 3184 and 3912), so a little treat of you all~ (Also Galar has a royal family now not really relevant just thought you should know.)

Softly he padded through the shop, listening to a strange clinking noise from further back in the maze of shelves. He guessed there weren't usually many patrons at this time of day seeing as he only heard a couple of voices other than his own as he spoke up, addressing the two Pokémon.

"Hey guys," he called, "I'm gonna put you back in your pokéballs okay?"

Togebo made a motion that sort of looked like a shrug, flying back towards him as if to say _'sure why not'_. The Togekiss seemed to be one of the most affected by Gold's mood, followed quickly by Pibu, Aibo, and Exbo. He felt a twinge of guilt as the pokéballs swallowed the two in their red light.

But turning to the side and looking around the store he was quickly distracted.

The ceiling consisted of steel panels and a few orange-ish lights that hung down on long wires. It wasn't his first choice in interior design but it wasn't his shop either. The floor was made up of darkly colored wooden planks, comparable to the color of the walls which were also made of wooden planks. However on the walls there were a few photos, laid out in a manner that seemed to tell a story that he couldn't quite understand.

Most of the building was obscured from his view by the selves that created a pattern-like maze in the front of the store.

He took a few moments to look at the content of these which unfortunately seemed to mainly consist of old magazines about a few Kalos celebrities' sex lives. Groaning, he turned away from the papers, annoyed by the publisher's interest in drama. Of course he enjoyed gossip, it was something he used to spend a lot of his time on when he was younger, but the sheer and utter investment in the poor people's personal lives was revolting.

That was about the only thing he was glad he didn't have to deal with as one of the least respected (quite possibly _the_ least respected) pokédex holders. Usually his friends didn't have to deal with those sorts of questions but some of them did have the problem of a cult following, namely Blue, Red, Ruby and occasionally Blake. Ruby seemed to enjoy it immensely while Gold had caught Blue grumbling about it at least twice before. He didn't know how Red and Blake felt about it, though knowing them it probably wasn't all good.

But he was growing increasingly curious and quickly moved on, walking past shelf after shelf of useless and outdated news.

Stopping a few shelves later after passing by what seemed to be the only other people in the store he glanced around again. On one side there were a few copies of a pamphlet with a publishing date from a few months before. It pictured a happy family with the caption " _Galar's Royal Family To Be Enlarged?_ " and a copious amount of other useless headlines. The teenager snorted, "let me guess," he muttered aloud, "they broke up."

Turning his head slightly and focusing on the next issue, which bore another photo of the family, though this time in black and white with a cracked glass effect layered over it. This time the caption read " _Things Are Getting Strained In Galar..._ " Snorting in an unamused way he twisted around continuing on through the store. 

_"Absolutely pointless,"_ he thought to himself gleefully, a smug smile replacing the twisted frown that had plagued his face for the few moments he had spent staring in confusion at the clickbait Style news. If he found such a story about himself or one of his friends some author would certainly be getting their ass beat, that was about all he knew.

Tracing his fingers over issue after issue of newspapers and pamphlets Gold continued down the twisting passageway.

It was a labyrinth of a book store, as he soon made it out to be. Why they put the things no one would want to read in the front he didn’t know, though it _would_ explain why there were so few costumers. If he hadn’t ran in here to escape the rest of the town he would have also been too intimidated to enter.

Slowly the content on the shelves thinned out into books, mostly new releases and bestsellers though there were a few books that seemed to be in a clearance section. He winced, that must sting, working hard on something your whole life and then...

...not being appreciated for it. Sighing he patted one of the books covers, “I know how you feel buddy,” he muttered to it, “I'm sure someone will want you someday-“

A loud and amused “ahem“ interrupted his motivational speech to the object. Turning around blushing he prepared to address a stranger. A women by the sound of the voice that had called him out.

”What is it ma’am..?” He started, eyes focused on the floorboards, too embarrassed to address the fact that he was talking to an object in the clearance section, especially while telling it that he knew how it felt.

”Ma’am?” The voice laughed, this time sounding distinctly familiar in his ears, “where in the world have you been Gold?”

He looked up, falling back in shock when he met eyes with a very amused Crystal's. If anything was worse than accidentally embarrassing himself in front of a stranger it was accidentally embarrassing himself in front of someone he knew. “Crystal?” He yelped, the blush that dusted his face growing ever darker, “when did you..?”

”Enter the store?” deadpanned another familiar voice, the sound of shifting fabric filling the emptiness of the statement, “when we started to get worried and decided to look for you.”

Again Gold met the eyes of one of his friends, scrunching up his face at the sight of Silver holding around six of the articles he had been internally insulting. Pointing a finger at him Gold struggled to form words, absolutely floored by the fact that such a person would be interested in them, “You... h-how’d ya... what?”

In response to his confusion Silver smiled darkly, nearly purring his words, “I’m getting them as a gift for Green, don’t act so surprised, you know she loves this crap.”

”A-ah,” the black haired teen stuttered, the ashamed blush creeping up onto his cheek bones. He had no idea what he was thinking when he told his mother he wanted to socialize, he was not at all ready to keep up a full conversation. "S-so," he tried, "you guys have been... uh," pausing, his eyes traveled over both of their faces, looking desperately for some difference since the last time he had seen them.

Silver had his long red hair tied back in a ponytail, which was normal for casual occasions. The only difference was that it seemed to be longer than the last time he had seen the two. Grabbing around for a topic, Gold faked a smile, "Silver! I didn't know you were... growing your hair out..?"

Silver shook his head, sighing, "I'm not, I just haven't gotten it trimmed."

Crystal laughed and Gold blushed, struggling to get back in the rhythm of normal conversation. He was usually a joker so chances were they wouldn't notice his awkwardness, though it also made it possible for it to be more obvious. Taking a deep breath he tried to calm himself down. He just had to be careful, it was simple really.

Reaching over and breaking through his thoughts, Silver patted Gold on the shoulder twice making eye contact in a short nod. What the hell did that-

As he walked by, dragging his hand across Gold's chest before dropping it, Silver whispered, "I know," he said, too quietly for Crystal to hear. Gold's heart sank, what did he know? His embarrassment? How hard he was finding it to talk like a normal person? The reason for both of those struggles? Whatever it was, Crystal didn't seem to notice it. Just like Gold's mom she seemed more interested in the fact that he was back, that he was okay.

Silver waved to the pair over his shoulder, pointing to the magazines he held in his hand, "I'm going to go check these out alright? You guys head to the restaurant."

Soon enough he was gone, disappearing into the maze of shelves that still surrounded the group of customers. Once he was gone, Crystal turned to him, smiling as wide as she could, "do you have anything you want to buy, or is it just him?"

Gold shook his head, "I think it's just him, I only made it here. There's only been crappy gossip so far."

"Fair enough," Crystal shrugged, "I guess we can go then, I know the way to the restaurant, let's go!"

It was fun hearing her talk, fun being able to see his friends, heck, it was even fun to feel emotion towards dumb magazines. He appreciated this trip for sure, but it still had a few problems. He was probably going to have to do this more often now, and if he wanted to keep the reputation of being carefree then he would have to talk to the other townspeople, make jokes with them, save them from scams. He just... wasn't ready for that much pressure yet.

Especially as the woman from before smiled towards him, looking curious more than happy. Everyone out here had seen him panic, though they probably just thought he was acting strange. More as if he was going to steal something then if he didn't know how to talk to them. "Crys," he whispered, grabbing her arm and pulling himself closer to her for safety, "Crys lets go..."

Cutting herself off from what she had been saying, Crystal looked down at him, confused. "What? Why?"

"Go quicker!" he hissed, "I don't like them staring..." as he shrank further behind her he narrowed his eyes, sure he could trust such a responsible dex-holder with at least that knowledge.

But she suddenly laughed, startling him into jumping slightly and distancing himself from her arm slightly, "You? Not liking attention?"

But as she turned her head to look at him her eyes seemed to make a connection and her words faltered. "Are you okay?" she asked, "Did something happen?"

"Uh, well," he started, pulling her arm and trying to make her walk faster, "nothing happened no."

It was a lie, quite clearly, but she nodded anyway. Sighing.

"Look Gold," she started, "I don't know what-"

"No," he cut her off, letting go of her arm and hurrying ahead, "I don't wanna talk about it, it'll make you sad."

"Make me sad?" she spluttered, rushing to catch up, "What in the world is that suppose to mean?"

"It mean's the topic is off limits," he sneered to himself, utterly shaken by her interest in the subject. "I don't want to talk about it."

When she tried to press further he hurriedly changed the subject, arriving that the store front they were supposed to meet at in the first place, "Is this the one?" 

His voice sounded carefree and happy again, if slightly strained. Crystal nodded, looking annoyed, "yeah, this is the one."

"Great," he muttered, "let's go."

She followed him through the door and immediately they were met by loud music and dim lights. The radio was set on some "hard rock" channel, though the music they were playing sounded pretty soft to him. It took their eyes a few moments to adjust but Gold already knew his way around. This was one of the may places he came to play pool and gamble if he felt the need to splurge.

A few other people sat in groups around tables, some others in booths that lined the walls. The lights about them were dim and red in color, surrounded by stained glass shades that bathed the room in different colors. But for some reason it didn't smell as much like smoke as it usually did. Casually walking up to a booth, keeping his head down as not to make eye contact with anyone he knew, Gold searched for the source of the new air quality.

When he finally saw it, Gold smirked. In the back a door to a second room proudly displayed the words "NO SMOKING" in bold black letters. "When did that happen?" He asked Crystal as they both plopped down on opposite side of the table.

Watching his gaze, Crystal shrugged, "Johto has new rules about the smoking in buildings, it's a fire hazarded or something..."

"Hhm," Gold snorted, leaning back in the couch-like seat and closing his eyes, "It's gonna kill their business."

"What do you mean?" Crystal asked, raising her eyebrows, "do you come here often?"

"Sometimes," he shrugged, all too aware of the contempt for the store that sat in her voice, "to play pool, drink some soda, converse,"

"Do people here smoke a lot?" Crystal asked, sounding genuinely interested in his choice of wind down time.

"Oh yeah," he laughed, "well, they used too."

"Huh," she acknowledged, "I wonder why your mom sent us here then..."

Gold shrugged again, cracking his neck either side, “Probably because she knows I’m comfortable here, no other reason makes sense.”

"That makes sense." Crystal said quietly, folding her hands on the table and staring down at them.

As they waited in silence for Silver to re-appear, Gold glanced around the room from behind the hair that always fell in his eyes. He saw a lot of the regulars, which wasn't a big surprise. This was basically the only bar in town, and the few others were very overpriced. Even if they were losing a small amount of business it was comforting to know that not everyone had left. Sure he had gotten if a few fights here, cheated in a couple poker games, drank alcohol that one time when he was still underage, but he still felt comfortable around everyone who was here.

Crystal, on the other hand, looked rather uncomfortable. He understood.

These people weren't usually the type she hung around, with all their drinking and gambling. She taught at a school for goodness sake, of course she would find it a bit draining to be here. As for Silver, Gold had no idea what the red-head would think of this place. He wasn't particularly aware of anything specific his friend would find disheartening here, other than the masks people wore on Halloween, but that was all over Johto, not just here.

The grandfather clock in the corner of the room ticked, barley audible above the chatter that filled the space.

There was someone laughing behind him, some lady gossiping to her girlfriend over fish and chips in the booth across from them, and a husband and wife comparing alcoholic drinks innocently in the far corner while some kid and his dad eating grilled cheese at a table in the center of the room.

 _At least no one seems to have missed me_ , he thought internally, smiling out of both sadness and relief. The biggest worry he had while sticking to himself after the recent war was that people would feel sad he was gone. He didn't expect them to feel sad, because no one really noticed him anyway, but it had been a creeping worry in the back of his mind. He would have felt awful if he knew they had worried besides the classic " _oh it's the weird boy from down the street who saves us from Whooper scams!!"_ .

Crystal seemed to notice his smile, tilting her head inquisitively, asking the question through her eyes instead. Gold saw this and shrugged yet again, "I like it here," he said. This was of course true, but she didn't need to know the specifics behind his smile.

It took Silver only a few more minutes to show up, though that was quite a long time in the terms of checking out a few magazines.

"I was wondering when you would show up!" Crystal beamed at him, "Gold here has been quite the... uh," she looked towards him and paused, he shrugged, having no idea what she was criticizing, "He's been, very interested in the new smoking regulations." She finished. Silver raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why?" He asked, "Were you going to take it up?"

Gold sneered at him, "You wish buddy! But unfortunately for you I usually make better health choices than that~!"

"Sure," Silver smirked, siting down next to Crystal on the far end of the bench, "but that's not quite what I remember..."

Crystal stifled a laugh as Gold sat up straight, "Hey!" he protested, "it this is about the fake ID card I've learned since then okay?"

Silver's smile widened in a teasing way, causing Gold to go beet red as Crystal tried to hide another laugh behind her arm, "Oh that's just _wonderful_ to hear, though may I asked, what have you learned?"

Gold sat back in his seat, face still bright red with embarrassment, "That when you have a baby face like mine you won't fool anyone."

At this assessment Crystal outright cackled. Gold knew that she hated it when he made bad decisions, though by that logic she would hate most of what he did. "Precisely," Silver continued, "and what else~?"

Gold tried to protest but Silver spoke over him, asking the question once more. Defeated, Gold rubbed his eyes with his palms, "...and not to get a fake license from the sketchiest guy in town, we get is Silver, you won."

"Wonderful!" Silver smiled, clapping his hands together. He seemed pretty comfortable here too, maybe it was just Crystal who felt out of place.

"Hey Crys," Gold said, interrupting the comforting silence that had held them so briefly, "do you mind if I go get us water or something? They probably won't be happy if we don't get anything while we're here..." At this Crystal stood, accidently whacking Silver in the nose with her shoulder. One awkward apology latter and she shook her head at the black haired dex-holder.

"We should all go up and get our food," she said, "that way we won't have to make as many trips."

"Logical," now standing as well, Silver was still rubbing his nose, "I don't mind that idea."

"Great," Gold nodded, a fragment of a smile tracing his lips, "if you can't read the menu or need suggestions I'll tell you, from the looks of it they haven't changed it since when I was last here."

"Even the soup of the day?" Crystal giggled as the three left their booth.

"Even the soup of the day," Gold confirmed, "They don't change that one much, I have no clue why."

Silver was power walking ahead of them as usually, his hand in his pockets. "Strange," he shrugged towards them, stopping in front of the counter, "but if my only choices of soup were-" he squinted here, having a hard time reading the smudged writing on the chalkboard that sat above the kitchen area. But just as Gold was about to tell him the two soup choices he finished the statement, "-potato leek and German bean soup I'd probably choose the first one too."

"I guess," Crystal laughed, "but thinking about it logically just takes the fun out of it, eh?"

Gold raised his eyebrows, internally wondering where in the world she had learned that awful piece of information. Silver seemed to be thinking the same thing, though instead of an unimpressed expression he looked amused. Crystal noticed both of their reactions, seeming to read their minds and blushing, "I heard it from my mom you dolts!"

"Of course you did," Silver snorted.

When she spluttered as if to fight against the statement Gold laughed, "Come on Cry, it's a cute piece of information, why don't you own up to it?"

In response she kicked him in the shin, nearly knocking him over in the process. "Ow!" he exclaimed, catching himself and regaining his footing, "do you have to do that?"

She stuck her tongue out at him, gesturing to the young woman who was coming over to them as swiftly as she could. Gold also made a face but remained silent so as not to confuse the poor employee who had probably heard about half of their conversation.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized, looking distraught, "I hadn't noticed you standing there,"

"Naw, it's alright," Gold said, though he felt his heart beating twice as fast in his chest. Unfortunately it wasn't from a developing crush, no not this time, instead it was purely the fear of socializing with people he didn't really know.

His ears barely registered her words of thanks until Crystal elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow-!" he yelped, but when he heard her laughing he made a face at his blue haired companion before quickly turning back to the woman behind the counter. "Say," he said, "I haven't seen you here before-"

"Really Gold," Silver whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "Flirting?"

"Wha-" his face turned red again, "I'm not flirting, it's just a question!"

"A question that sounds like flirting," Crystal teased, only to be drowned out by Gold's attempts to bring the conversation back to their task at hand; to order food goddammit.

Luckily the employee just laughed, "no no it's alright," she reassured him, "I just started work here, so you probably wouldn't have seen me before,"

"Interesting," Gold said, "did the other bartender quit?"

"I think he got fired," she shrugged before catching herself and freezing, a dark blush creeping over the pale skin of her cheeks, "I don't think that I'm supposed to tell customers that though."

"That's alright," Crystal reassured her, taking control of the conversation, "we won't tell anyone."

The woman thanked her, but quickly regained her professional standards and took each of their orders. Telling them that they were number fifteen and jogging back into the kitchen, she called out to the chef in an attempt to tell him their orders, leaving the bar area all to it's lonesome once again.

"I kind of feel bad for her," Silver said, "Imagine being the only one working the counter at a restaurant, that sounds awful,"

"Agreed," Crystal nodded, "It probably is awful."

"It is," Gold reassured them. When both of them turned to him, the same question of _'you've worked this job?_ ' plastered on their lips, he continued, "my mom was a waitress, I know it's not the same job but it's a similar idea."

"She did?" Crystal asked, a small smile on her face, "that's adorable!"

"I know," Gold said, "except for the fact that it doesn't pay that well..." he made a face thinking about it. It had been a stressful job for her but she had still persevered. He respected that about his mom a lot, how she was able to work through difficulties simply in order to survive. It was amazing. (She sometimes told him that he was the same way but he personally didn't see the resemblance, and it seemed that most other people didn't either.)

Most of the rest of their dinner went fine, though Silver didn't really like the bacon in his BLT and traded sandwiches for Crystal's grilled cheese. Gold was pretty happy with his french-fries, so all was well in the world for the rest of the time they spent together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed..? I certainly enjoyed writing this!


	5. The Losers In My Head Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gold's mom has had a messy past, do you wish to know what happened?  
> Completely set in the past, Gold's mom works to provide for herself and Gold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got cut off in the middle of this chapter by the computer locking me out, none-the-less, I bring you this beauty!

_"Sorry ma'am," the black haired waitress sounded flustered, her golden eyes near-glowing in the warm gray light of the room against her dark olive skin, "We don't have that meal in stock today, if you would like any suggestions I-"_

_"No!" The opposite woman exclaimed, "this is unacceptable, I want the potato leak soup, not whatever-" she fumbled with her word choice, trying to get the best effect, "...Alolan-ass food you would like to serve!"_

_The waitress swallowed the bile in her throat, she had never been to Alola and no one she was related to hailed from the small island region. She didn't even look particularly Alolan, the only stereotype she shared being her medium dark skin and perhaps the black hair. But even in that case she looked as though she was from Kalos or Kanto because her hair was very straight and shiny, not textured at all._ _"Ma'am," she swallowed, "I'm not in control of what we serve, but if you would like any suggestions I-"_

 _"No!" the customer yelled, by now having caught the attention of other guests, "I don't want any of your food! I just want the soup I asked for!_ _"_

_Bitter, the waitress shook her head, unsure of how to professionally deal with the situation. She had only been working at this restaurant for a short period of time. Her last boss had fired her after she had to rush home and take care of her newborn at the time, Gold, who had started choking on a potato chip at the babysitter's. Between the restaurant jobs she had worked at a bookstore but that somehow paid even worse. She still had a job there, and worked part-time but now that she could be a waitress again it had taken a backseat._

_But she tried her best to put on a pitying face, "Alright ma'am, if you would like I can try to speak with my boss about this, in the meantime can I get you some bread rolls and butter?" Kicking her right foot against the opposite calf, she hid her fidgeting behind the table. Oh how she hated customers like this._

_Sitting back in her seat, the complaint filled customer frowned, "If that's the_ best _you can do..."_

_The response sounded more like a growl than regular words, a threat to be sure. But the black haired waitress bowed politely, "I will go get your bread rolls now," Turning as fast as she could without knocking anything over with her skirt, she rushed away, just barely catching the rude woman's remark of 'and the bread rolls have better be FREE!!' before slipping into the door that lead to the kitchen._

_Now in safety and pressing her back against the wall to catch her bearings, the waitress took a few deep breaths, trying to dull the urge to cry. It hadn't been that bad of an interaction compared to some of the others she had in her time at this job but it had been a very long day up to this point anyway. A few of her co-workers were giving her pitying glances, all of them knowing that they didn't want to be the one with_ that _customer._

_One of the cooks sent a bitter nod in her direction, "What does she want?"_

_"You... heard her?" the waitress laughed awkwardly. She knew that everyone had heard their exchange, it was obvious._

_"Of course I did," the man hummed, turning back to the club sandwich his was putting together with his gloved hands, "Let me guess," he paused for effect, "potato leak soup?"_

_"Yeah," the waitress sighed, ignoring his fake shocked expression, "I told her we don't have any but she doesn't care..."_

_"Well," the cook sighed, "I'm guessing she will want you back with those bread rolls right? The free ones?"_

_The woman groaned, pulling on the edges of her navy blue skirt, "Tell me about it, I'll have to get those to her soon, but I..." she sighed, unsure of how to describe what she felt._

_The cook nodded sympathetically, now finished with the sandwich, "Please update me when you come back, I'll get the manager if you need him,"_

_"Thanks," she sighed standing up from the wall, "I'll try my best to not need the manager, and I'll get Kathy and let her know the sandwich is done. (The only reason she knew which of her co-workers had the sandwich was because they were waiting tables opposite each other at the same time and the- relatively pleasant- conversation had been easy to overhear.)_

_"Thank you as well!" The cook called out after her. Grabbing the bread rolls and a couple extra butter capsules as she went, the waitress prepared herself for another painful conversation._

* * *

_After the work day this same waitress closed the door, having finished up on the cleaning for the day. The next day, at twelve o’clock precisely, she was to return again for the same job again. But today all she had to worry about were her feet, which were very sore from sitting in heels the entire shift. (They were low heels, only about an inch, but still painful after long periods of time.)_

_Of course her job at the bookstore started at seven in the morning to do early morning clean up. (It was a book store in a chain of the same type, so there was a lot to do.) After her shift at that store she was to come into the restaurant._

_”Just don’t think about it,” she groaned to herself, “I have some time to spend with Gold before that,”_

_She was referring to her baby, (or was he a toddler by now?). She wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she loved him very dearly, even if his father..._

_Nope. Not going to think about it._

_Her steps quickened, now sneakered feet taping over the cobblestones that made up the short cut back to her house. If she could get home in time the babysitter would be able to hand off Gold before he was supposed to be in bed. She would be able to have some cuddle time or something._

_Smiling_ _subconsciously, her pace quickened even more, her calves slapping away the ferns that sat around the path. Her house lay in the outskirts of New Bark town while the restaurant was in the next one over. There was a small wooded section in between the two and this was where the path she was now walking was._

_It wasn’t a path to her house (as her cottage-core fantasy’s wished it could be) but instead a trail used by casual hikers that stretched between two or three of the small towns of Jhoto, passing by pokémon and their homes along the way. Ahh, pokémon. Recently, though before Gold had been born, she had rescued a few wild ones with some of her friends. Aibo, Polibo, and a few others. They fit in wonderfully with the others who had lived there since before that rescue._

_It really was the life, especially because they could provide for themselves by eating berries, a trick that she used herself when going to the store was too much of a costly bother. They tasted great most of the time, and they were easy to cook if she wanted warm food or baby food (which was, in her opinion, ridiculously expensive) for her family. It was honestly a life-hack that she thought more people should use._

_Finally_ _, bringing her out of her internal tangent-like thoughts, her shoes clicked against the side walk where the trail and New Bark Town met. D_ _i_ _stant laughter could be heard, the product of elementary aged children playing, though they would need to go in as duck fell. Smiling, she hurried on her way home. The lights were still on in the upstairs bedroom, which most likely meant that the babysitter hadn’t put Gold to bed yet.  
_

_Sometimes life was pretty hard on them but that was alright._

_She still had her pokémon friends and her son. That was really all that mattered at the moment, especially since even with a tight budget her house (which had been her parent’s) was payed for._

_”Cuddle time here I come!” she excitedly whispered to herself before unlocking the door and rushing inside._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was about half the length of my normal chapters, so sorry about that! I was at my grandmother’s house and didn’t have access to a PC, so it was typed on my mom’s I-pad. :/
> 
> New chapter should be out soon enough, I'm working on my RoChu fic though, so it do be like that sometimes.


	6. Reflected Light...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gold and the pokémon have a bonding moment and Silver talks to Green.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s one in the morning again and I’m low-key not sorry because that last chapter low-key SUCKED if I’m being honest with myself.
> 
> Also my writing style is a bit off because I just wrote a Rapunzel thing and it messed with me.

A day after Gold's meeting with Crystal and Silver he woke up.

Today seemed somehow, unexplainably, different. Perhaps how he didn't feel the immediate urge to go back to sleep. It was as if life was worth living again and he... kind of liked that.

It was nice to have regained his will to live, no matter how small it was or how much regular people took it for granted. With a small smile on his face he internally thanked his mother, it had been a good idea to force him to meet with his friends. He had truly appreciated their company.

But of course he quickly sobered up. He wanted his mom to feel like he was getting better but at the same time he didn't want to let her down if it was only temporary. That would probably be an absolutely awful feeling. Particularly if both changes were as sudden as it seemed they would be.

But he was prepared to go downstairs, and that was a wonderful feeling no matter how carefully he controlled the expression of the rest of his emotions.

Even if his mother was away at her job, this now being a much healthier occupation as a pokémon nurse, he still wanted to make her happy. His sleep schedule was still incredibly messed up but like hell if that was about to stop him. He wanted to fix his sleep schedule. On a regular day the very early morning was his favorite time and if he got up late everyday (or couldn't tell the time when he was up early) he would never see that beautiful sunrise.

So he got out of bed and padded down the stairs, feet still wrapped in the socks he had neglected to take off. Most of the house pokémon were lying around, just chilling in front of the TV or a few books. (It wasn't well known but for the most part pokémon were capable of reading and because of when Gold was learning to read most of the pokémon he lived with had learned as well.)

He looked at them for a few seconds, contented with the calm energy that seemed to radiate off of each of his friends, or did they count as family? As the breeder he could never he sure. But he was aware of how nice it was to know that their lives were still reasonably stable, no matter how shitty he felt personally.

Lickitung, the pokémon who often helped him do his hair, waved one stubby arm, calling the teen over.

So, climbing over the couch because he couldn't be bothered to go around, Gold made his way over. "Yeah?" He asked, "what is it?"

The pokémon chirped happily, nearly dropping the bowl of cereal he had been holding. Lickitung gestured over to a paper on the table and smiled. When Gold looked slightly confused he stood, leading the human over to that table.

Gold stared at it. It seemed to be some sort of... to do list?

He turned to the Lickitung again, only slightly confused, "Did she make this for me?" He was, of course, referring to his mother. She sometimes left lists of household chores for him to do, rarely telling him that there was a list, let alone where to find it.

But the pink pokémon shook his head, jumping to point at one item on the list.

"Ah," Gold muttered, his mother rarely made him but tampons, and when she did it would be on a shared shopping trip, not a to do list, "this is mom's list?"

The pokémon nodded this time.

"So..." a smile was spreading across his face as he put two and two together, "you think we should work on some of the things for her?"

Lickitung nodded furiously, accidentally splashing Gold with a bit of saliva. Deciding to ignore that last part and just wipe if the sticky liquid, Gold also smiled, "That's brilliant! She is going to be _so_ happy, just you wait!"

The pokémon turned away and bounded over to the others, seeming to communicate what the plan was to them. So, slowly for some and quickly for others, all of the house pokémon and Gold's team found themselves in front of the table starring at the list. 

"Alright," Gold said confidently as he looked around at all of them. They were all here for the same reason, love and admiration towards his mother, "we all know what's happening right?"

They all nodded, a few exclaiming their species names loudly. Gold had read over the list as they were discussing it among themselves and it all seemed do able. He was happy for that, it would be easier to split up jobs. In fact he was so caught up in doing a nice thing for his mom that he didn't even notice he wasn't sulking.

"Okay!" he clapped his hands together, "Who wants to pick carrots and weed the garden?" a few pokémon raised their arms or wings, "alrighty!" Gold smiled, appreciating their readiness. All of the pokémon he had ever met had their own hobbies, their own talents. If they wanted to pick carrots (which was something his over imaginative and easy to bore brain hated) that was great!

And so the Drowsy and the Odish were off, leaving through the back door and carefully closing it behind them. Gold watched the go before turning back to the rest of his friends and smiling, "next on the list we have..."

The pokémon leaned forward, the cliffhanger-ish sentence leaving an out of place seen of suspense in the air. "...sorting and putting away food container s from the fridge!"

No one raised their arms, Pibo even sticking out his tongue in clear defiance, "Oh come on!" Gold laughed, "you can eat some of the food, I won't tell,"

Immediately almost all of his team jumped up, immediately happy at the mention of food. Laughing Gold called them out on this, explaining that if six of them went the rest of the list would be kind of hard to complete for everyone else.

Eventually they were able to narrow the team down to Aibo, Togebo, and Pibo (which came as no surprise to anyone) and the trio bounded off. Gold went down the list, item by item. Polibo and Sunbo went off to get groceries, Lickitung and Sandshrew decided to fold the laundry, Clefairy and Krabby went to clean the basement, the rest of Gold's team got to sorting the bookshelves, and Wurmpule and Exeggcute started to work with Gold on the dishes.

All in all, it was a shaping up to be a reasonably successful day.

So he and the pokémon worked, cleaning and sorting their way through the house. It was oddly therapeutic, even if it would have normally annoyed him and f he were forced to do the same work. Odd how the human brain worked.

Pibo, Aibo and Togebo were finished with their job rather quickly (and just as Gold had expected quite an amount of the food was gone) and went to go pick carrots as it was another food related job. At least they were being helpful.

In fact many of the jobs were completed quickly, Polibo and Sunbo returning even sooner than he had anticipated. Only the cleaning took a long time and even that was relatively easy, Gold hadn't been downstairs to mess it up after all.

* * *

"Between you and me," Silver was pacing back and forth on the carpet, heels clicking, "I'm a bit worried about him,"

"You're doing it again," Green sighed, shaking her head and gently taking off her hat, "sit down and stop stressing Silver, there is a seat right across from me, this is a big table."

He groaned but plopped down anyway.

The pair were in Green's parent's house, house sitting since they were in the Safari district taking a tour. Green had gotten them the tickets as a anniversary gift and they had been eager to use them. It was an amazing feeling to make than happy, especially because she had not been able to for so long.

"You are rarely worried about people," Green leaned back casually, "so-"

But Silver cut her off, "I worry about people plenty," he growled, "I'm not soulless!"

"Fine," Green sighed, "I guess that's true, but you don't show it much so this is new to me,"

Silver's mouth twitched but he stayed quiet anyway, listening to what Green had to say despite the fact that he wanted to talk. He had told her about his conversation with the other dex-holders. He knew Gold was capable of taking care of himself but he was certainly allowed to worry. Crystal hadn't even seemed to notice anything off and that was upsetting.

"First of all," Green was explaining, " _Relax,_ being worried all willy-nilly isn't going to help anyone,"

"I am relaxed," Silver growled, clenching his hands in his lap, "you need to understand that this is really different from how he normally acts..."

"Yes, I'm aware of that," Green nodded solemnly, "but I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate people he cares about worrying, so my point still stands."

Silver groaned, "I know he wouldn't want me worrying but that isn't going to stop me, plus, if he needs help it's better if I'm prepared to!"

"Then be prepared too," Green said simply, folding her hands under her chin.

"How can I be prepared if I'm not worrying?!" Silver spluttered, "That doesn't make any sense!"

"Of course it does," Green rolled her eyes, "even if you personally work better under high stress it's better for the rest of us- and the outcome- if you don't out-right panic. Trust me, that will just make it worse."

Silver crossed his arms, muttering, "I'm not out-right panicking..." under his breath in retaliation.

"Fine," Green sighed, "but my point still-still stands,"

Raising an eyebrow, Silver frowned, "'still-still'?"

"I had already said that my point still stood once so I doubled it," Green hurriedly explained before rushing on, "but really, if you have any major concerns you should tell his mom, I bet she's worrying her head off too,"

Silver hummed, he hadn't really thought of that. He barley spook with the woman, especially recently. He often found it hard to talk too people out of his age group (his time with The Mask Of Ice had influenced this) and she wasn't incredibly easy to contact at all times, what with her reckless personality and odd way of doing things.

"See?" Green muttered, "you just have to think before you panic, it's not that difficult..."

Silver hissed something under his breath but she just laughed, "it's true! Don't be so angry all the time!"

Silver just rolled his eyes at that, annoyed only slightly by her holier-that-thou attitude. He was more perturbed by her lack of interest in the subject of Gold's well-being, though it would be unfair to say she acted this way exclusively towards the fire-type trainer. (She actually acted like this to everyone, so he wasn't quite sure why his surprise was so intense.)

"At least," Silver had noticed he was ignoring his friend again, "it's comforting to know that his mom knows about it, not everyone has that," Green's words sounded deliberately final. This was a tiny bit infuriating because Silver knew the truth in what she said, heck he _was_ one of the people she was referring too.

"Yeah, I'm aware," he growled, "my father does happen to be the founder of Team Rocket. At least you have a normal family now..."

Green swallowed and then sighed, leaning over the table to stare into his eyes pointedly, "I didn't mean it in an insulting way, and I'm sure you know that..." her voice sounded almost pleading; if to plead she could somehow leave out the urgency, calming in a distant fashion. Silver hated how easily she could settle situations, but only in the form of jealousy. He was always in awe of her calm approach to stressful situations, it was just that he couldn't always do the same.

"I know," he nodded, "I know you didn't."

"Thank you," she murmured, closing her eyes.

The breeze from the outside world flowed through the open window, pushing the lace curtains in the wind. A pokémon battle was going on somewhere, as the distant excited yells could be heard. That was normal, it really wasn't Pallet Town without the pokémon battles, it was, in fact, as Blue had said. There were no cars, no buses, nothing. Silver loved that, even if Viridian City still felt more like his home.

Green's voice woke him from the calming thoughts, "I am worried about Gold though," her voice cracked gently in the third to last word, showing emotion that Silver had not expected to be directed towards the fire type trainer.

"You are?" He asked, coming off kind of rude even in his own mind, though Green ignored it.

"I am," she confirmed, "It really isn't like him to be so so sad, do you think he's suppressing something? Or is it something else?"

Silver blinked, "Suppressing something? What for?"

Green shrugged, bringing her gloved hands to her hips, "I'm not sure but it's possible, his mom would probably know something about it if that was the case though."

Silver breathed in a deep breath, "So... you want me to talk to her?"

"No, not now," Green shook her head quickly, "just keep in contact with me in case something gets worse, okay?"

"Fine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this one was better!  
> Also, important question; when do you think I should update this? I was thinking Sundays possibly every other week possibly ever week, it would depend on how busy my school weeks are.  
> Any input would be appreciated though!


	7. ...Shines Brighter Than Gold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gold's mom returns home to a completed to-do list and a clean house... but her mind is focused on a much bigger problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi so, I dunno if you've noticed, but I changed the chapter number from '?' to '20'.
> 
> This could easily change in the future but it somehow makes writing this less stressful. :)

It had been a few hours since Gold had fallen asleep.

There was the soft sound of raindrops tapping against the roof somewhere above them. The gentle creaking of the surrounding trees dwindleing in the chilly air. Basically, it was a good night to not be a wild pokémon.

All of the jobs on their list had been completed and everyone had went to bed early as a reward for their hard work. Everyone except Pibo. The small pokémon was curled up on his trainer's chest, gently bobing up and down with Gold's breathing as if he were a boat in a gentle costal storm. As calming as it was, nevermind how warm and comfortable it felt, he couldn't seem to fall asleep.

He had been resting for the last few hours but sleep had just not come. He could have easily blamed this on valiantly waiting for his trainer's mother to return... but that would have been a lie.

Then, just as he thought the time would never come, his ears perked up sharply, hearing a recognizable voice somewhere on the pathway outside. His left ear twitched as he slowly lifted his head. From this distance he couldn't understand (or detect) any specific words but it was clear there was a conversation going on.

Then there was a loud whooshing noise as the door swung open, just barely caught by the woman who opened it before it hit the wall. The cold, wet rain hit Pibo directly in the face and his fur pooffed up instinctively to shield the chill of the air.

Gold's hair made a 'fwp'ing sort of sound as it floated up off his face with the heavy gust of wind.

"...I know that the Clefairy's sick Nadia, but I don't want you worrying about me," the door was swung closed and the sound of rain subsided, "plus, I'll be there by Monday at the very least, okay?" Gold's mother tapped her heeled boots on the tilted floor, pulling her wet trench coat off and draping it on a chairback. She sounded stressed, forcing Pibo's ears to flatten at the fearful tone of voice, it wasn't a normal occurrence for his normally calm partial-trainer to sound this way.

There was a short pause, the crackling of a woman's voice through the cell phone, harmonizing with the soft buzzing of the television.

"Alright, I'll be on the look out for any symptoms. But you know it isn't safe at the hospital for them right now, right?" the black-haired woman clicked her tongue as she quietly made her way across the entryway and into the living room, bending over and pressing a button on the TV remote to switch it off.

Another cracking sentence broke through the phone's speaker, but it was only met with a sigh, "I understand, and I'll be sure to check in with you when possible. Besides, I can have my son watch her when I'm away-"

There seemed to be an argumentative exclamation coming from the caller's end but it was quickly stopped, and a groan could be heard before being followed by more words from the person. (This woman was apparently named Nadia, judging exclusively from the sentences Pibo had heard.) But then Gold's mother spoke again, causing his mental investigation to be cut short.

"Alright. I understand, I'll call you when possible, bye Nadia!" and there was the beep of the cellphone turning off. The call had been ended.

"Woooo..." Gold's mother breathed, muttering a few indestinguicable words as well, pulling of her boots and padding back over to the door. Since she had not Gott an oprtunity to turn on the light it came as no surprise when she nearly tropes over a box while trying to put her shoes back. As if holding back from swearing in response to the shock, she took in a deep, shaking breath before letting it out in one long "puff".

But, quickly over her near-fall, the woman walked her way over to the conjoined dinning room. (There was a large opening between the dinning room and the living room instead of a door, so the two were used almost interchangeably.) Here, she finally switched on the light switch and yawned, reaching into her dress pocket. With the sudden bright light Pibo found it difficult to see what she was reaching for. He blinked his large round eyes a few times, chirping quietly in annoyance.

Now squinting, the small pokémon leaned forward trying to get a good look at what the nurse held. His tail stuck up in the air as he slipped down from Gold's chest and onto the couch, sneaking over the rest of the couch cushions before hopping up onto the couch arm.

From his perch on the piece of furniture, easy since his eyes were starting to adjust, he could tell that his trainer's mother was holding a pokéball. That was odd, their family rarley used pokéballs unless they were traveling a long distance, in which case it was much better to be confined in one so you didn't have to do the walking. Still, the pokéball seemed to be full and everyone who lived in the house was home. It was normal for Gold's mother to carry a few spares with her in case she ran into wild pokémon that needed help, perhaps she had found one?

Unable to stand his curiosity any longer, the small pokémon leaped off the couch, landing softly (though loud enough for a human to hear) on the carpeted floor. Looking startled, his partial-trainer turned around, though her surprise seemed to lessen when she made eye contact with the pichu.

"Oh hi there Pibo," she smiled kindly, setting the pokéball down on the table, "I didn't think you were still awake!"

She kneeled, reaching out an arm to the pokémon who was still confidently trotting towards her. When he was in range Pibo excepted the offer to be picked up and hoped onto her forearm, scrabbling his was up to her shoulder. The human stood once more, the small yellow creature now comfortably snuggled up next to her ear.

"What'da ya think?" She asked quietly, picking up the pokéball again, close enough for Pibo to see the pokémon inside, "do you think she'll make it through a few more weeks?"

Pibo stared into the depths of the pokéball through it's transparent window in astonishment. Inside, there was a Clefairy, she was either asleep on unconscious, it was hard to tell in the small scale. There was a long scratch down her face and over her eye but it was bandaged. Her breaths came shakily and her left leg was bandaged heavily, though this seemed to still be bleeding.

Pibo looked up at the woman who held him, ' _wgat happened?_ ' his eyes asked.

In response Gold's mother only sighed, "We don't know, I found her on the way to work today and rushed her inside before I could even get changed into my uniform. Nadia- my coworker- is convinced that it was Team Rocket but I think she might have gotten in a bad fight with wild pokémon..."

Pibo nodded, though he was now wondering why the Clefairy was even in their house if she needed such intensive care.

As if reading his mind, the human shrugged (nearly making him fall off her shoulder with the sudden movement, "I wanted her to stay at the hospital too but she doesn't like it there, she was fighting back against the nurses and they couldn't help her... I'm the only one she trusts..."

Pibo swallowed, making a sound akin to purring, though it was out of discomfort and not happiness. Wild pokémon often fought back against doctors, or any type of human really. He found it odd that professionals would send an injured pokémon home without trying at least a couple more tactics to get that pokémon to calm down.

"I know," Gold's mother sighed, "I would have liked it if she could have stayed at the hospital but, well, you know how wild pokémon are..." She trailed off. Wild pokémon could become stressed out by an environment they didn't recognize, especially if they were injured. That stress itself could be enough to put their lives in danger. "Still," she sighed, "I guess we are lucky that she was able to fight back, if she couldn't that would be even worse, though we had to stop trying to get near her because she was making her cuts worse,"

Pibo chattered his teeth in discomfort, narrowing his eyes and walking a step closer to the pokéball. He couldn't verbally speak any language that humans could understand but Gold's mother seemed to get the idea anyway.

"I suggested that we give her an injection to knock her unconscious but we apparently didn't have enough...?" She scratched her head with the arm that wasn't supporting Pibo, "I was certain we had a stock pile but finding these days isn't too good and we might have sent it to another hospital that needed it more," she dropped her arm again, "we even called the nurse Joy of the town, she didn't have any either, no supplements, no nothing."

Pibo's ears flattened, making a mental note to not get into any dangerous battles in New Bark Town he kept down onto the table, walking in a circle and the looking back up at his trainer's mom.

"You want to know the nurse Joy's name?" She furrowed her brow in confusion, "her full name is Joyous Betty Rose, dose that help?"

Pibo shock his head quickly, he had not been asking what the nurse Joy's name was, there was no need for that information.

"That... wasn't what you were asking?" The nurse looked confused, "then what in the world did you mean?"

Pibo rolled his eyes before standing up on his back legs, reaching his front two up for the pokéball. When the human shook her head, starting to explain that he couldn't even hold a pokéball properly, he kept up grabbing onto it's plastic-like surface and pulling it down into the table with him. He tapped his foot, staring up at her and blowing the bit of fur that had fallen into his eyes out of the way. ' _Go to bed,_ ' he seemed to insist, ' _yoi deserve it,_ '

"Pibo I need the pokéball," she sighed, "you can't possibly keep it for the entire night,"

Pibo narrowed his eyes, he knew this was true, he knew it a million times over. Still, he didn't want her to be distracted by the injured Clefairy, if she wanted to take good care of her then she would have to rest, he didn't know how else to make her go to bed.

She again sighed, "how about I take her with me and go up to my room, brushy my teeth, and go to bed, okay? I promise she won't distract me, I'm tired as all hell,"

Finally stepping away form his fellow pokémon, Pibo nodded sharply. "Thank you, _good Arceus_..." Gold's mother muttered, bending down and picking up the pokéball once more, "you should try to sleep too," she patted his head before walking past him and towards the stairs, switching off the light as she went, "I'm not waking you up early just so you can meet a new friend..."

Pibo rolled his eyes, he didn't care if he woke up early or not, all he cared about was if he missed breakfast or not. But he hopped off the table anyway, trecking across the carpet before hopping onto the couch and curling up next to his owner.

He really hoped the Clefairy would be able to heal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also! From this point on my updates will be on Saturdays or Sundays every other week, if it doesn't happen on a Saturday on a scheduled week it will happen the day after.
> 
> I wish it could be every week but I'm working too hard on my RoChu fic and a new Pokespe project (it's a surprise ;D) to do that. (Even if I've finally thought up an end goal/plot for this fic hee hee.)
> 
> Anyway, have a nice day!


	8. Shattered Glass Window Panes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, uh, I can't do the every other week thing for this, homework be hitting hard. But, the first four paragraphs of this were written for an English project.
> 
> Also!  
> My internet and power were out for four days because of a wind storm, but I missed way more weeks than that. After Thanksgiving I'm gonna spit out, like, four chapters. They are all done but I haven't edited them yet. Again, I'm so sorry but the real life stuff was hitting hard. T^T

Gold glanced up from his food, the spicy aftertaste left in his mouth tasting oh-so-similar to his internal emotions. There was a conflict going on inside him, on one hand he was glad that his mother was able to take care of a new pokémon but on the other hand he knew that they might not be able to safely have another being in the house. He was glad the Clefairy was safe but even so there was still that bitter, metallic smell that stuck in his nostrils. There was a real danger somewhere, even if it was only a threat for the pokémon. Having already fought the first being in the universe it would have made sense that these sorts of things wouldn’t scare him anymore but it just didn’t work that way.

Between his slowly healing mental health, his mom’s full time job, the house pokémon’s needs and having to hang out with his friends now that they expected him to re-join humanity there was that creeping suspicion that their lives would be stable. He trusted his mother’s professionalism, and knew that she was doing the best she could for all of them. He really and truly believed that and the amount of respect he felt was equal to his trust. It wasn’t that she wouldn’t be able to support them, she had done that for years, it was that there was something else out there.

Something else, something that hurt the Clefairy that they had so quickly welcomed into their lives.

But looking at the pokémon he felt the childish urge to push away the victim and make the pink fairy type leave their home. She had been the closest to whatever had harmed her and that made his ‘parental’ instincts go off the charts to keep her as far away from Pibo and Togebo as possible. They could protect themselves, sure, but he had still hatched them from their eggs and a bit of that softness stuck around his heart for the two. Plus, Pibu was still a ‘baby emotion’, which only made his attraction to the small electric type’s safety stronger.

His mother blinked her soft golden eyes at him, frowning and placing down her fork directly on her white table cloth, “What’s wrong Gold?”

Twisting the corner of his T-shirt Gold bit his lip, "I'm just worried..." he whispered, voice barley audible over the clinking of bowls and purring of pokémon.

His mother swallowed, nodding in an understanding way, "I get it," she blinked slowly, "I'm worried too, and I really hope we can take care of her..."

Gold's lip twitched. He still didn't understand why they had to take care of the pink pokémon, it seemed so much safer for and injured pokémon to stay in the hospital. He felt as if they were going to do more harm than good, and for a poor animal injured as badly as the Clefairy and that felt dangerously... human of them.

To keep a creature away from possible healing... even if they thought they were doing good. That felt too human. Too far away from what he had tried to turn to. Ever pokémon was just as worthy of a good life as a human, he fully and truly believed this.

It wasn't their fault that humans were able to build houses (though often with their help) it wasn't-

Gold's mother cleared her throat, scattering his thoughts. When he looked up at her he recognized worry in her eyes, how obvious bad it been that he was thinking about something negative?

Her eyes searched his face, worry evident as she seemingly forgot whatever she had cleared her throat to say. Gold felt a rumble of appreciation bubble up in his chest. He felt awful for making her worry but he really did appreciate how much she cared, no matter how shitty her own sadness made him feel or his heart hurt.

Even when dinner was over that appreciation didn't leave his heart. Even when he got up from the table and cleared his plate, even when he padded up the stairs and returned to his room. Really, out of everyone in the entire world his mother was his favorite. Silver was pretty cool, Crystal was okay too, all of the Kanto dex-holders were okay... the list went on in this way. But still, no matter how much he loved talking to his friends his mother was still the best.

* * *

Downstairs, Gold's mother lead the Clefairy over to the couch, helping her onto the soft piece of furniture because he stubby pink legs weren't strong enough to jump up.

All of the pokémon gathered in the living room (well, everyone except Pibo, who was still eating leftovers). The plan was to watch a movie. She had wanted Gold to be here too but he wanted to get some rest and that was okay too.

She wanted the Clefairy (who had been lovingly named Clefbo by Gold) to feel safe in their home.

So of course the way she had thought up would be to watch a movie. When Gold was younger they often enjoyed an animated fantasy story or another equally well structured movie on the weekends, it had always been a nice family bonding experience. Now she hoped the Clefbo would agree with this idea. (It seemed like this was the case judging by the pink fairy type's face as she comfortably settled into the soft couch cushion.)

Earlier in the day a few of the house pokémon had worked with her to choose a movie that seemed right. Gold had jokingly suggested the movie that two of the Unnova dex-holders had acted in but immediately took it back, laughing and saying that it was way too cheesy to watch with a serious outlook. Luckily everyone agreed with him. It wasn't a bad movie but it was always awkward to see people they knew acting, especially in a superhero love story of all things.

So, pulling out their old copy of _The Princess and the Froakie,_ the black haired woman sat back in her cushiony arm chair, pressing 'play' on the old gray TV remote once she found a comfortable sitting position. As the movie started her eyes strayed from the screen, looking around at all of the pokémon that sat around her. Pibo was still eating, as was expected from the tiny electric type, but everyone else seemed to be paying attention.

A couple of them were talking amongst themselves, squeaking and chirping their words excitedly. This movie was a bit of a family favorite as the music, animation, and story were all engaging enough to re-watch multiple times.

Even Clefbo looked interested, which wasn't a surprise. It must have been one of the first times she had seen a working television.

Everyone was getting along. Even if Gold was upstairs in his room, presumably sleeping, the room felt full of life and joy. Gold's mother smiled, it was going to be a good movie night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this was a really short chapter, but as I said, life is pretty wack right now and I needed to focus on school work. See you at at least Thanksgiving!


	9. Chapter 9

“A party?” Green raised her eyebrows, prodding at her cold chicken parmesan with a very half-hearted plastic fork, “goodness, why Yellow?”

Yellow shrugged, her black-clothed shoulders sudden against the white background of the wall, “I guess I thought he would enjoy it, doesn’t Gold love those?”

This time Green’s eyebrows scrunched up, “He did before, but who’s to say if he would want to go to one now? I haven’t talked to him in at least a few months, and it sounds like Silver just barely saw him again a few weeks ago…”

“Where did they see each other?” Yellow inquired, her tone light and nonchalant despite the heavy topic, “it was probably in a public place, right?”

Green shivered, averting her eyes from the other dex-holder. Her friend was so nice and sweet that sometimes it was easy to forget just how little remorse she showed after thinking she had killed Lance of the Elite Four. “Well, yes, it was a public place, but if he’s scared of things now why would you want to force him into another public situation? I think that’s kind of…”

“Mean?” Yellow frowned sadly, “I know, but I can’t think of anything else, if you have a better idea please use it, I don’t want him to suffer, that’s all,”

Nodding slowly, Green swallowed.

Yellow, Gold, and Red usually got along quite well. (She assumed the reason for this was their shared main pokémon type; Electric.) It was really hard to watch Gold suffer, even though she herself found him rather annoying, especially since Yellow and Red (two of the five people she cared about the most because of their shared home-region) were getting hurt because of his pain.

Yellow was just desperate to see a fellow Electric trainer again, so Green understood her near-insensitive wish to break Gold out of his shell as quickly as possible. But it was still impossible to act that quickly.

“Maybe…” Yellow started before sighing and cutting herself off, unintentionally lowering her voice when she spoke again, “maybe we could just… let him be for a bit…”

Green felt a pang in her heart. It really was clear how much Yellow was hurting and she hated it. She hated it so much. Between the three Electric trainers she would probably kiss Red, kill Gold, and marry Yellow. That was how much she cared, no matter it be represented by the platonic love she felt of the romantic love.

But it was awful to just leave Gold to die like that, especially when he already thought so low of himself. That was why she was here still, talking it through with Yellow to see what could be done. Slowly, without thinking, Green reached a gloved hand across the table and rested it on Yellow’s arm. Smiling softly, sadly, when the younger trainer looked up.

“Maybe we could throw a party,” her voice was soft and cautious, “the Kanto girls, just the two of us. We could invite the others, it would be really casual…”

Yellow’s lip trembled as she smiled sadly, voice breaking, “that would be great Green,” she raised a shaky hand for a high-five as tears met the corners of her eyes for the first time in a while, “thank you...”

Green raised her own fist and met the other Kanto trainer’s softly, “No problem girl,”

It was always so stressful to work things of this sort out all on your lonesome. It was awful in a group too, since then it always felt like there were too many people working towards a shared nearly unattainable goal. It was unfair like that, that that was the reason why the two were working together as a pair instead of as part of a larger faction.

It was awful to imagine any of their fellow dex-holders in pain but something about Gold suffering unironically hit different. Maybe it was how cheerful he was when times were better, maybe it was because his personality didn’t lead well to sadness in the mind’s eye, maybe it was simply because he was hard to think of a way to help him. Gold had always been a bit different from most of the dex holders, personality and fighting wise. Of course all of them were unique in their own ways (weather in combat style or otherwise) but Gold was just a little bit further out there.

He was the one who would hide his true emotions from the god pokémon, he was the one who cared about his team as if they were family instead of even partners, he was the one that decided that flight using water types was easier than getting a pigey. Yellow wasn’t sure if it was their connection as electric type trainers but over the years she had become relatively attached to the black haired Jhoto resident. Of course it wasn’t in a heteronormative clique type of way (if anything her undying love would be professed to Green at this point) but rather in a genuine worry sort of way.

Green mainly worried for the electric type trainer because she cared about Silver and knew that deep down, even if he wouldn’t admit it, Silver was deeply distressed by Gold’s current mental state.

She cared for Gold as well, just as much as any other dex-holder, but Silver was still at the top of her priorities list. They had grown up together, suffered together, escaped the Pryce together, gotten over their fears of birds together… everything. Truly, she owed her life to Silver as much as he owed his life to her. If he had to suffer because she was unable to prevent his friend’s sadness she didn’t know what she would do. It was really upsetting to think about how badly things could go if they weren’t careful.

But she was also aware that she couldn’t think about it too hard or she would just overcomplicate things past the point of them making sense. Besides things making sense, the sheer amount of danger that was tacked on when one added too much meaning to a situation that didn’t mean much… it was staggering. She didn’t want to act like this was too much of a big deal because with the right steps it didn’t have to be. She wanted them to spend some time together so that he would begin to feel comfortable around his allies again, just as a way to make sure that the turn back to ‘normal’ life wasn’t too jarring.

She would do all that she could to help him.

It was for his sake as much as hers or Silver’s

It was for his sake as much as…

Green glanced across the table and caught eyes with Yellow, who smiled sadly. It was unclear exactly what Yellow’s reasoning was, but she clearly wanted to help. Green almost felt bad. For what she wasn’t sure, but she knew that bitterly, somewhere within her, she hated that they had to do this. Hated that they had to go to such lengths as throwing parties.

Hated that they were forced to worry past even what their friend probably needed.

But she knew that it was better to make him feel loved, make him feel accepted, then leave him behind them and ignore his wordless pleas. They would do this for him and on her life if they had to, they were going to go about it in style. Whatever ‘in style’ would be for a party anyway. Could decorations be in fashion? She supposed they could, there were plenty of magazines which . advertise things like paper plates, streamers, and glitter so it had to be that some products were more popular than others.

She smiled.

They were definitely going to do this in style.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter after literal months of inactivity. I decreased the chapter amount because I just want to finish this at this point. ;-;

**Author's Note:**

> Yee. This is my first post on Ao3, I have accounts on Quotev, Fanfiction.net, and Wattpad as well. Hope the one (1) person who will see this enjoys!


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